Heroes Don't Bother Studying - 2
Ryutis's scorching verbal spear stabbed me right in the solar plexus and left me stunned for a moment—but that was the full extent of the damage. I wasn't so unhinged that I'd throw a fit over a remark made without malice. If I had been, I would have flipped the principal's office on my first day of secondment.
Besides, the fact that I took the civil-servant route rather than anything involving the North was something I used as self-deprecating humor all the time, so it was fine. To me, entering civil service felt a lot like going to graduate school. I had simply been blindsided by an unexpected dunk on my academic record from an unexpected mouth at an unexpected moment, and my mind had temporarily left the building.
If only he weren't royalty.
If he hadn't been a prince, I would already have given him a solid punch to the throat. The fact that Ryutis happened to be a prince of Armein—the kingdom with the next greatest national power after the Empire—only demanded even more patience from me. It was enough to drive a man insane.
If there were ever a chance to thrash Ryutis legally, I would be willing to pay up to five gold coins for it. Just shut up and take my money.
"Looking at the lot of you, not going to the Academy might have been a decent choice after all."
Setting those thoughts aside, I noticed a few people still watching me carefully, so I detonated myself first. Your club advisor is not angry.
Only then did Luise and Erich's faces relax, as if a weight had been lifted. Seeing that, I felt a little moved—there were people among them who actually cared about my feelings. The other three had such unchanging expressions it was hard to tell, and Ryutis wasn't even worth discussing. That bastard.
"We've chatted long enough. Don't mind me—everyone get back to what you were doing."
I changed the subject, afraid of what might come flying out of Ryutis's mouth if left free. Watching the club members throw themselves back into their studies brought up some rather unpleasant memories.
"I've already looked into a position for you. Just show up and they'll tell you what to do."
Maybe because we had been talking about the Academy, the root of all evil rose from the depths of my memory. That infamous piece of nonsense the family head had spouted four years ago. Looked into a position? Just show up and they'll tell me what to do?
I was an idiot for believing him.
The "position" had been a one-way VIP seat straight to hell, and the team leader who was supposed to tell me what to do died not long after I joined. Even the mid-level veterans had departed in a friendly little group, and the team had gone to absolute pieces. What made it even worse was that, simply because my family rank was the highest, I got shoved into the team-leader seat.
Even now, just thinking about it made my head throb, and I quietly closed my eyes. Before I could even learn the job from anyone, the death of the team's leadership had thrown everything into chaos, and the heavy responsibility of cleaning it up had fallen on me.
Of course, a freshly minted civil-servant chick had no ability to handle a burden like that. Thanks to that, the minister—who had been a section chief at the time—had actively helped me out. Back then I had been simply grateful. Now? Fuck.
One weird promotion and everything went completely sideways.
After going from team member to team leader, then from team leader to Fourth Section Chief, then from Fourth Section Chief to Audit Department Chief—not a single one of the three promotions I had experienced had been normal. And that was without even mentioning the incidents that happened in between. So this was what it looked like when your official luck went completely rotten.
In that wretched mood, I looked at the club members whose futures were still undecided. Most of them were highborn enough that they didn't need jobs at all, but if they ever did have to find employment, I hoped they would at least land something normal.
As time passed, a rather unique scene caught my eye.
"And so, with the death of the Transcendent, the proposition that an individual cannot overcome a collective was firmly upheld. No matter how brilliantly a powerful individual might shine in battle, in the end war is something only a nation—a collective—can win. Cases proving that kept accumulating."
"So that's what it meant."
Later was speaking with a gentler expression than usual, and Luise was nodding along with genuine interest. The sight of a prince of the Uven Alliance teaching Kpelleofen Imperial history to a noble of the Kpelleofen Empire. And it looked like he had gone past the exam scope. How far was he teaching?
Is this right?
Wasn't it usually the other way around? Imperial history might be considered part of a continental noble's cultural literacy, but shouldn't a noble of one's own country know it better? A strange feeling washed over me for a moment, but I let it go when I saw Luise's serious expression.
Well, it had been two years ago—she might not know the details. Imperial history tended to focus more on the aftermath of events than on how they unfolded, so if you really dug into it there were plenty of difficult points. This was an empire that prioritized the imperial family's judgments above all else, including posterity's verdict, so even events from two years ago got slammed into the textbooks.
"Hmm?"
While I was watching this somewhat unusual history lecture, Later—who had been explaining without a hitch—paused for the first time.
"The Six Swords? I've never seen this content before."
Ah.
"It was revised this year. If you looked at last year's edition, you might not know."
"Is that so? What a relief. I was a little worried I'd wasted my time studying."
I answered Later's question in his place. Until now the Empire hadn't been able to reveal much about those guys on a large scale, but this was the first revision that mentioned them, so I knew it well. It was connected to me too, so the Ministry of Education had even contacted me about it.
It wasn't bad news for me. Names that had been covered up two years ago for unavoidable reasons were finally coming out into the world. Considering how many people had their names buried forever, waiting two years was pretty good.
"It's important content, so you'd do well to look at it carefully."
Names remembered by a prince of another country. That alone could count as making it, I figured.
Later's gaze, which had been on Karl, returned to the textbook.
The Six Swords.
It wasn't a name given a long mention in the textbook. Barely a few lines, but that short content was absolutely nothing to ignore.
The Six Swords. The six heroes who, in the final battle of the two-year war the Empire called the Great Subjugation War—the Northern War—had given their lives to help slay the Transcendent.
Strange.
Even in the Uven Alliance Kingdom, they had thoroughly monitored the Transcendent, Kagan. As he had explained to Luise, Kagan's death was an event that once again proved an individual could not overcome a collective.
Until the Empire killed Kagan, an unsettling public opinion had been spreading among the continental powers: that a superhuman unbound by any nation might be able to shake a country. Fortunately that opinion had been put to rest when the Empire killed Kagan by its own hand, but what a nerve-wracking moment it had been.
In proportion to how nerve-wracking that feeling had been, he prided himself on having no shortage of information about Kagan.
I'm certain it was the Inspector who killed Kagan.
In the final battle, it was the Duke of Victory who had led the Imperial Army, and it was Karl who had killed Kagan. Of those two, what the Empire had announced on a large scale was that the Duke of Victory had commanded the Imperial Army in the battle where Kagan fell and led the Empire to victory.
The Empire hadn't erased Karl's achievements, but it was also true that they had kept quiet in order to elevate the Duke of Victory's accomplishments further. In fact, even within the Empire, news of the Kagan-slayer hadn't spread widely among the lower nobility and commoners.
And in that situation, they suddenly elevate the existence of the Six Swords? When they hadn't even publicly announced the living Kagan-slayer on a large scale? He had wondered if Karl might be included among the Six Swords, but that wasn't the case either.
Something's going on.
The fact that the Six Swords—who could dilute the Duke of Victory's achievements—were being mentioned now. And the fact that the actual person who killed Kagan wasn't included among those Six Swords. There was clearly something, but he couldn't get a sense of what the Empire intended by it. More precisely, what the current Emperor intended.
He never would have guessed that this year's revised textbook hid a bomb like this. Back home they probably thought imperial revisions were just routine and hadn't properly checked.
"Later? What's wrong?"
"I was just thinking about something else. Let's continue."
Luise's call finally pulled him out of his thoughts. Unexpected information had come in and left him a little flustered.
There's nothing I can do about it.
There was a limit to what he could find out in the restricted space of the Academy. It would be more efficient to inform his country and leave it to them.
Later's gaze turned to Karl, who was looking out the window. Known as the Emperor's hunting dog and as someone close to the Duke of Victory. If it was Karl, he might know something about this incomprehensible incident. He almost wanted to ask him directly.
Later's gaze is sharp. He's probably turning it over in his head pretty hard right about now. Thinking there's some scheme behind this revision.
There actually is.
It's a revision packed full of the will of a patient who grows more terrifyingly obsessed with imperial authority by the day. The current Emperor is so fixated on imperial power that he doesn't hesitate to cast out even maternal relatives. It seems he's now decided it's time to throw some checks at the Duke of Victory, the Crown Prince's father-in-law as well.
Once word of the Six Swords spreads, the full story of Kagan's death will gradually come to light, and that will result in the prestige of the Duke of Victory—the key figure who led the war to victory—fading just a little. The renown the Duke of Victory had monopolized until now will start to be distributed.
It's a hassle either way.
Every single move a politician makes is loaded with meaning, and it makes my head hurt. I'm satisfied that those guys who hadn't seen the light of day for two years have finally come up into the open, but if there's one thing that bothers me, it's that the Duke of Victory is taking the hit.
But the Emperor is only trying to check him moderately, so it'll be fine. If he'd really been set on doing something to the Duke of Victory, he wouldn't have thrown such a minor check. This check is as good as a polite greeting that says, I'm watching you, so mind yourself.
Considering the Emperor's usual behavior, it's a truly simple and mild check. Later could figure it out on his own if he just thought about it a little more easily. Still, the next time I see the Duke of Victory, I should pass on my regards. I owe that man a great deal.
Time passing quickly during exam season is a common trait of every world. It feels like just yesterday that I was watching the club members gathered in the club room studying, and already the theory exams are over.
Yes, the theory exams, that is.
"Having you here is such a relief."
"We are the ones who are always grateful for the Inspector's consideration."
The day after the theory exams ended. I called Villar to the club room to discuss an important matter.
"The Academy was also glad of the three kingdoms' cooperation. It would be troublesome if any of the distinguished personages were injured, after all."
What starts once the theory exams are over? Naturally, the practical exams. And at this Academy, "practical" means savage sparring matches with swords and magic flying everywhere.
Fortunately, with the power of magic and holy power, even fairly serious injuries can be healed quickly. Exceptionally skilled mages or priests can even reattach severed limbs, and if there's even a thread of life left in someone on the brink of death, they can somehow bring them back. I know because I've experienced it.
But what madman would take a "Don't worry, even if your arm gets cut off we can stick it back on!" attitude toward royalty? That person's neck would get cut off first.
"I will patrol the sparring grounds and check for any unusual matters."
"Yes, understood."
So that's why we're doing this. Starting the day after the practical exams begin, stationing ourselves throughout the sparring grounds to prepare for any injuries that might occur.
It's not actually that difficult a job. Watching sparring matches and preventing injuries is something any veteran from a knight order or mage corps has done plenty of. It's just that the sparring partners happen to be royalty, so the tension is sky-high.
"This is something—I feel sorry for the students who'll have to be their sparring partners."
The really hard part falls on the nameless students who have to swing a sword or throw magic at royalty. Looking at the match brackets, they'll probably break down in tears.
But what can you do? Luck with the bracket is a kind of skill too. Just like how even a game character window has LUK as a stat, luck is one of the evaluation factors for getting by in the world.
Anyway, that's how it is. It's better for those students to think of it that way too.